Somerset Berkley will accept fewer School Choice students

By George Austin

Thursday

May 9, 2019 at 10:38 AM

SOMERSET — To keep the enrollment at the high school at a level where it wants it, the Somerset Berkley Regional School Committee last Thursday decided to accept less students in the state’s School Choice program.

The Regional School Committee decided to accept up to 10 students in the freshmen class for the School Choice program which allows participating districts to accept students from other school districts. The committee had been approving of Somerset Berkley Regional High School accepting up to 15 students from the School Choice program in previous freshmen classes.

School districts that accept students from other school districts receive $5,000 per student from the out-of-district students, and more if the student requires special education services. School Superintendent Jeffrey Schoonover said decreasing the amount of School Choice students allowed to attend the high school will decrease the revenue the school district receives from the program. Regional School Committee member Stephanie Field asked if decreasing the amount of School Choice students the high school accepts will impact the budget that the Regional School Committee has proposed for Fiscal Year 2020. Lindsey Albernaz, director of business and finance for the schools, said accepting less School Choice students potentially could impact the budget proposal.

Schoonover said he wants to keep the enrollment of students at SBRHS at about 1,000 students and with the estimated amount of students coming into the next freshmen class from Somerset Middle School and Berkley Middle School, he recommended that five less School Choice students be accepted in the freshmen class so that the class can be at about 250 students. Schoonover said he is projecting 170 students from Somerset Middle School and 70 students from Berkley Middle School in the next freshmen class at the high school. He said the school district will have more concrete numbers by August. The Regional School District has been promoting the high school more to the middle school students in both towns over the last couple of years. Schoonover said there are five students that attend Berkley Middle School under the state’s School Choice program who want to go to SBRHS. The Somerset Public Schools for the town’s elementary schools and middle school does not participate in the School Choice program. School districts in Massachusetts have to take a vote every year on if they want to participate in the program. Once a student has been accepted into a high school as a School Choice student, that student has a right to continue through that high school to graduate, regardless of whether the school district decides to continue with the School Choice program in future years.

Schoonover said students also transfer into the high school in the middle of the year when they move into the town so the enrollment fluctuates a little during the school year.

The enrollment for Somerset Berkley Regional High School this year is 1,030 students. There are 258 students in the senior class. The high school building was designed for 1,000 students.

Schoonover said there is a two percent cap on the amount of students in the state who can go to other school districts under the School Choice program. He said once that cap is exceeded, school districts would get less than $5,000 per student for students from out of district. Schoonover said the state is about 500 students away from exceeding that cap.

Regional School Committee Chairman Richard Peirce said keeping the classes at around 250 students is consistent with what the committee has discussed in the past. He has also said in the past that he wants the high school to stay around 1,000 students in order for it to be able to maintain the comprehensive programs it offers.

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